Shyly he poked his head out from behind his nanny. I waved him over, and he slowly, timidly waddled my way. When he was close, I reached out and gave him a scratch behind the one ear that wasn't covered in paint. He gurgled in delight.
"You need to listen to your nanny, Roland, do you understand me?"
He waved his dragon head, those impossibly big eyes blinking innocently at me. Oh, he was good. I bet he had half the castle wrapped around his little talon.
"Don't play innocent with me. You've been naughty."
He bowed his head in shame, but I didn't miss the look of mischief.
"You behave, or I'll come down to your nursery and show you how a dragon behaves, got it? Or better yet"—I leaned in, eyes narrowed—"I'll send Drago."
He let out a squeal and rushed behind his nanny again. I could barely hide my grin as I stood up. "You got him now?"
"Yes, lady. Thank you, Lady."
I left her in the library with Roland, still bobbing and curtseying. I was baffled. The whole "Fire Bringer" thing meant zilch to me, but it was important to Drago, so I'd let him do his thing and officially announce me. Apparently it was a much bigger deal than I'd realized. That, or the woman had spent a little too much time chasing after recalcitrant baby dragons.
The air was thick with the sooty tang of smoke as I passed the burned curtains. An elderly man in a black suit shook his head at the damage as he took measurements and jotted them down in a small notebook. I couldn't understand the words he was muttering since he spoke in dragon tongue, but he clearly was not a happy camper.
I took the flight of stairs to the second floor and wandered down the hall toward Inigo's room. I hesitated in front of his door, suddenly wondering if I was doing the right thing making a surprise visit. Last time hadn't gone so well. I should have called. Or texted. Or emailed. Or something.
I turned and strode back down the hall toward the staircase. I should find Drago. Catch up. Let him tell Inigo I was here. Yeah. That's what I should do.
I came to a stop at the head of the stairs. Why was I being such a loser? I needed to march back down that hall, into that room, and…. And what? Demand Inigo be nice to me? Act normal? Treat me like a girlfriend he actually wanted to see instead of someone he could barely stand looking at?
As I waffled, my cell phone rang. I breathed a sigh of relief as I pulled it out of my pocket. I'd been given a temporary stay. I frowned as I read the screen. Jack.
"Why the hell haven't you called me?" I snarled into the phone. So much for phone etiquette.
"Hello to you, too," he snapped.
"What the hell, Jack? You take off, leave me alone in Paris without so much as a word. You don't return my calls or texts. Nobody knows where you are."
"You're not my keeper, Morgan."
"Fuck you." Yeah, I said it. I was mad as a freaking hornet and growing angrier by the second. "You go all bullshit Guardian on me one minute, and the next, when I really need you, you fucking disappear. I think I deserve an explanation."
He let out a long-suffering sigh. It made me want to smack him.
"I didn't call to argue with you," he said. "I wanted to let you know I had a lead on the book. That's why I took off like that."
"Too late," I told him. "I already know where it is. Alister has it. He was on some island in the Caribbean, but it's too late. He escaped before we could get it." I felt smug and superior. Well, except for the Alister escaping part.
"We?"
Oh, bloody hell, here we go again. "Kabita. Me. Eddie helped." I left out the whole Haakon thing, though I really wanted to ask if Jack knew the Viking Sunwalker.
"He's okay, then? Eddie?"
"Yeah. There was a small vampire problem on his cruise ship, but everything's fine now."
"Uh-huh." I could practically see him shaking his head in exasperation. "Well, since you let Alister escape…."
"Listen, you asshat…"
"I've got a few other leads," he interrupted. "I'm going to follow them up. I'll let you know what I find."
"You do that."
"Are you back in the States?"
I hesitated. "No. I'm in Scotland."
"How is he?"
I swallowed. "I haven't seen him yet. Just got here. But I'll tell him you said 'hi.' Is that everything?" My voice was abrupt, stilted. I so did not want to talk about Inigo. Not with Jack.
Jack cleared his throat. "Yeah. That's it."
"Fine. Gotta go." I disconnected before he could say another word. The man made me want to pull my hair out sometimes. Most times. Worst Guardian ever.
Chapter Fourteen
Before I could shove my phone back in my pocket, it rang again. This time it was Kabita.